A killing field: The targeting of journalists in Pakistan

For the past several weeks, CPJ's Asia and
Journalist Assistance programs have been in regular contact with local and
international organizations who are concerned about the rising number of journalists
and media workers at risk in Pakistan.
CPJ and several other groups are working together on viable, in-country
solutions: Journalists in Pakistan are in need of trauma counseling,
urgent relocation, or support so that they may remain in hiding and avoid
threats or physical attacks.

Pakistani
journalists have
faced threats, abduction, assault, censorship,
displacement, torture,
and murder in increasing numbers in recent
years, CPJ research shows. One of the most alarming cases was the September
2010 attack on columnist UmarCheema, who
had reported critically on civilian and military authorities. Cheema was abducted, tortured, and then dumped with a warning: "If
you tell the media about this, you'll be abducted again--and won't ever be
returned."

If you
cover politics, corruption, or war, you're more likely than any of your colleagues
to be victimized at the hands of the military or paramilitary or intelligence
groups. You may also become a victim of one of the two sides of Baluchistan'sescalatingethnicstrife, or of militants operating in the FederallyAdministeredTribalAreas, or of political factions, criminal groups, or feudal
leaders vying for power. If threats and harassment don't force you to quit
journalism, then perhaps you'll flee your home. If this fails, you may be killed. And if you're
killed in the line of duty, it is likely that those who perpetrated the crime
will walk away, given Pakistan's near-perfectlevelofimpunity.

CPJ research shows that at least 39 journalists have been killed in direct relation to their work since
1992, with the fatality rate increasing dramatically in the past five years.
Last year, CPJ ranked Pakistan
the deadliest
country for journalists in the world, with nine media deaths. Print journalists
have suffered the highest loss, but broadcast journalists are not lagging far
behind. The majority of victims, 95 percent, are local journalists, a pattern seen
around the world.

With five journalists killed so far this year, 2011 seems
set to be another deadly year for Pakistan's press. Three of those
five deaths were targeted killings. Geo TV's Wali
Khan Babar was gunned down after his story aired on gang violence in Karachi. Babar had been threatened in the past, according to CPJ research. On WorldPressFreedomDay (May 3), Pakistan's President
Asif Ali Zardari told a CPJdelegation that he would
pursue justice for all journalists killed on the job. A week later, reporter NasrullahAfridi from the
northwestern Khyber Agency died when his car exploded in Peshawar. According to the PakistanFederalUnionofJournalists, Afridi was in
Peshawar fleeing threats from militant groups. And then SaleemShahzad's torturedbody
was found on May 31. He had been abducted and murdered after reporting on ties
between Al-Qaeda and Pakistan's
navy, news reports said. For months, the reporter had been telling friends that
he had been warned by intelligence agents to stop reporting on sensitive
security matters. In late June, a government-established commission was
formed to look into the Shahzad killing.

On August 5, Asia Program Coordinator Bob Dietz and I wrote a blog post headlined
Quantifyingthethreat
tojournalistsinPakistan,
which began:
"For many journalists working in Pakistan, death threats and menacing messages
are simply seen as part of their job." But
now the real question seems to be whether the threat of death--either from
a targeted killing or being caught in the country's mounting violence--has
become a routine part of working as a journalist
in Pakistan.

Journalist Assistance Program Associate Sheryl A. Mendez is an editor and photojournalist who has worked in international hot spots such as Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. She has a master’s degree in International Affairs specializing in conflict and security from the New School for Social Research in New York.

Comments

Will justice be done and be seen to be done in Pakistan? As usual the bastion of Free Speech, the journalists are once again the target of a puerile political set up. The People of Pakistan will have to reinvent their Nation to get out of the morass its twisted politicians and religious retards have got them into.